September 30, 1989, 2009

FIRST 5 YEARS: (Saturday)
In an Indiana rest area on I-74 when I was woken by my alarm clock. Sun won't be up for awhile so why so early? The scenery is best sometimes at night...This part of Indiana and all of Illinois I will be going through is farmland...Would rather go through western Kansas. Yes, I know, farmland has trees! Yep, but they mostly are wind breaks. I am not scheduled for unloading until later in the afternoon, but I still want to get their as soon as possible as I may get unloaded early. I followed I-74 west to the where it links up with I-80 near the Quad Cities(Iowa/Illinois) . With that long drive, I only made one stop at a truck stop in Bloomington (Illinois). The Quad Cities area has three ways to truck through it on the interstates but all ways will hit an Illinois scale house. The only decent way around the scale houses is to use 23rd ave/42nd Ave/Colona Rd. through Moline(Illinois). Anyway, I took I-74 west to I-280 west. Got off the interstate system at Hwy 92, just before going over the Mississippi River. I could have gone this trip better(I think now) if I would have got off of I-280 on the Iowa side, but... I followed Hwy 92 west, just south of the Mississippi River. The scenery was nice but the roads, though legal for me, were quite small for two lanes. Crossed the Mississippi River on a decent bridge where I ended up in Muscatine, Iowa. I found the factory I was to deliver my load of jars to and the time was 10 AM. I checked in at the receiving docks and they told me to come back at 6:30 pm as that was my appointment time. Their docks were quite busy so I was not bothered to come back later. The front of the plant had a place where I could park the truck if I wanted to. NOTE: This waiting time to get loaded or unloaded is often a point of irritation as it is down time for drivers who want to keep moving. It is really irritating when the shipper/receiver isn't doing anything but won't let you load/unload until an appointment time; especially if the unloading/loading will be pushed onto the next shift. This wasn't the case here, as I could see that appointments were needed due to the heavy use of the receiving/shipping docks. I took my rig back to a (some kind of food) Hut and filled "my" tank again. I had time so I stayed at my table, eating through the lunch buffet period and writing. When I stay at a table for more time than needed to eat, I leave a sizable tip as my time at that table probably took away from some of the waitresses tips. Went back to the "condiment" factory and waited until around 6:15 PM. While I was waiting, I watched several open trailers on the other side of the plant. Each trailer had a blackish cloud over it. These trailers were filled with tomatoes used in the making of the condiment here. These trailers would work like a dump truck and dump their contents into the factory. I asked what happened to the Blackish Cloud(flies swarming) when these trailers were dumped. I was told that the yard trucks(the tractors that move the trailers around) were suppose to shake the trailers before dumping the tomatoes. What happened to all the flies that weren't shaken off(had to be in the 1000's) and was told that after all the contents were crushed, it was filtered. Germs? The cooking process would take care of that. The crushed stuff had to have bug parts in it! Yes, but the government regulations OK so many bug parts per unit...What about the microscopic bug parts and "juices"....no problem, they are cooked!!! Now, have I eaten this product, not ketchup but made like it, since I saw all this??? Sure have and will continue. I know it sounds really gross to many, but look what people eat around the world. Look what our special military forces have to learn to eat to survive...Was unloaded at the dock right after 6:30 pm, as scheduled. Called dispatch and was given a load of auto parts going to Laredo, Texas to pick up in Iowa City(Iowa) Monday morning at 11 AM. That means I have a day off to help get time on my logbook. I knew there was a small truck stop in Iowa City but knew the "Just a Truck Stop" at at Walcott(Iowa) would have room; I went there. Sat in the movie room, talked "trucker tales" and watched movies as my day ended...